from The Christian Institute
Humanists are celebrating as the Education Secretary announces plans to introduce Religious Education (RE) into the national curriculum for England.
Currently, RE is mandatory for children of compulsory school age in all state-funded schools. The syllabus in schools with no religious designation is determined at a local level by an Agreed Syllabus Conference, which includes representatives of Christian denominations. This local syllabus must “reflect the fact that religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian”.
However, under these plans, the national curriculum would set new requirements for schools, including the teaching of non-religious worldviews.
It is not yet clear what the arrangements will be for schools with a religious designation, which currently make up a third of state schools in England.
Humanist inclusion
Bridget Phillipson claimed that “Learning about the world’s great faiths and traditions teaches children not just about the world, but how to live alongside and tolerate one another within it. In such fractured times, it should be a source of hope that those representing the full spectrum of religion in this county have reached consensus on the most fundamental of points: what our children should learn about the world’s faiths, communities and traditions.”
She said representatives from “every major faith and a wide range of communities have come together to agree a shared vision”, adding: “With so much focus on what divides us – and race and religion so often at the heart of that division – equipping young people with the knowledge, understanding and values that religious education teaches could hardly be more important.”